tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7423226159021574471.post3355833395856085790..comments2017-03-15T09:59:05.850-04:00Comments on International Anita Brookner Day: Review: Brief LivesThomas Hogglestockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14284352537015457974noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7423226159021574471.post-76568408244664031912016-11-21T14:30:29.198-05:002016-11-21T14:30:29.198-05:00Hello Thomas,
A wonderfully insightful review of...Hello Thomas, <br /><br />A wonderfully insightful review of Antia Brookner&#39;s &#39;Brief Lives&#39;. It&#39;s one of my all time favourites. I know a few characters like Julia in my life. That&#39;s why I love reading her novels.<br /><br />The sheer virtuosity of her observations and the sense of internal tensions of ordinary events and relationships which she explored with an air of delicacy, sober sensitivity and detachment. <br /><br />Brookner said in her most famous novel, &#39;Hotel Du Lac&#39; that she wrote her novels for the tortoise market (I am paraphrasing here). Julia in the novel is undoubtedly the hare. She remains indifferent and unrepentant. On the other hand, the kind-hearted and observant Julia could be based on Brookner&#39;s mother who was, like Julia, a professional singer of lieder and sentimental ballads.<br /><br />To me, a mark of a good novel is to reveal the extra-ordinariness of the ordinary and Brookner&#39;s &#39;Brief Lives&#39; is a good testimony of that. <br /><br />Thank you so much, Thomas, for sharing your personal review of this novel.<br /><br />With warm wishes, ASD A Super Dilettantehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02640893790909916004noreply@blogger.com